Peter Beinart: 'Very serious mistakes'

Writer at The Daily Beast magazine talks about how the peace process has become a touchstone for US leadership.

I think America has made a lot of very serious mistakes. I am also dubious that any other power or constellation of powers would have been more successful because you do need to have the trust of Israel in order to broker a deal between the two sides.

Peter Beinart, senior political writer at The Daily Beast,

Peter Beinart is a senior political writer at The Daily Beast magazine and the editor-in-chief of its blog Open Zion , which aims to foster an “open, unafraid conversation about Israel, Palestine, and the Jewish future.”

A former Rhodes scholar at Oxford, Beinart was the editor of The New Republic between 1999 and 2006.

He is the author of three books - his most recent one, The Crisis of Zionism , takes a close look at the intimate and complex relationship between the American establishment, American Jews and Israel.

The Week magazine named Beinart columnist of the year in 2004.

He joined Empire to discuss how the peace process has become a touchstone for US leadership, and how the Kerry effort is important for American prestige in the region and around the world.

“I think America has made a lot of very serious mistakes," argues Beinart.

"I am also dubious that any other power or constellation of powers would have been more successful because you do need to have the trust of Israel in order to broker a deal between the two sides.”

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